The increased infrastructure requirements needed for AI workloads have largely been retrofitted into existing data centers. That’s about to change.
It’s pretty much common knowledge now that data centers are filling up with power hungry AI workloads, which requires not only beefed up electrical infrastructure but additional cooling capacity as well. So far, this is mostly being done by retrofitting existing data centers.
That’s about to change according to the new Data Center Physical Infrastructure 5-Year Forecast Report from researcher Dell’Oro Group, which says we can soon expect to see new data centers designed from the ground up to meet the physical infrastructure requirements of AI.
“To date, most accelerated computing deployments have been in facilities not fully designed to support them,” Lucas Beran, Dell’Oro’s research director said in a statement. “The next leg-up in the evolution of AI is accelerated computing deployed in facilities with purpose-built power and cooling infrastructure.”
These data centers purposely built to accommodate AI workloads are already in the pipeline, Beran said, which should result in something of a boom in DCPI space.
“In many cases, these DCPI orders have already been placed with vendors,” he said. “In turn, DCPI vendors have been making manufacturing investments to support increased capacity, which is expected to materialize in meaningful DCPI market growth over the next 18 months. As deployments of accelerated computing and purpose-built physical infrastructure align, AI workload performance stands to benefit.”
In fact, Dell’Oro predicts that driven mostly by AI’s need for higher amperage power distribution, backup power to manage load variability, and liquid cooling that’s increasingly seen as necessary for AI workloads, the DCPI market will see a 13% compound annual growth rate from 2023 to 2028, to become a $50 billion market.
“I believe 2025 is shaping up to be a very strong year for DCPI and purpose-built AI facilities,” Beran told FOSS Force, “which should lead to significant gains for AI workloads and their potential outputs.”
Additional highlights from the Data Center Physical Infrastructure 5-Year July 2024 Forecast Report:
- DCPI revenue growth is forecast at double-digit rates for the majority of the forecast period, with particularly elevated revenue growth forecast for 2025.
- North America, Asia Pacific excluding China, and Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) are expected to lead growth over the forecast period at double-digit CAGRs.
- Thermal Management, Power Distribution, and Three-phase UPS market segments are forecast to grow fastest during the forecast period.
- Cloud and Colocation service providers are expected to account for most of the growth during the forecast period.
Dell’Oro’s recently released report covers market sizes and forecasts for Uninterruptible Power Supplies, Thermal Management, Cabinet Power Distribution and Busway, Rack Power Distribution, IT Racks and Containment, and Software and Services. Additional product level detail is provided for each market segment. Allocation of manufacturing revenues by Cloud Service Providers, Telco, Colocation, and Large Enterprise and Rest-of-Enterprise customer segments are also provided.
Christine Hall has been a journalist since 1971. In 2001, she began writing a weekly consumer computer column and started covering Linux and FOSS in 2002 after making the switch to GNU/Linux. Follow her on Twitter: @BrideOfLinux
